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"Nano-Velcro" Wins Outstanding Invention of the Year

"Nano-Velcro" Wins Outstanding Invention of the Year

Seconds after the "nano-velcro" was added to this phial of blood, it gelled into a solid mass.

"Nano-Velcro," the technology behind a hemostatic tissue sealant spray and a blood clotting "biobandage," has been named the Outstanding Invention of the Year in the Life Sciences category of the University's Office of Technology and Commercialization's annual awards. Nano-Velcro was developed primarily in the Complex Fluids and Nanomaterials Group laboratory by Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering associate professor Srinivasa Raghavan and his advisee, Fischell Department of Bioengineering graduate student and Fischell Fellow Matt Dowling. The pair collaborated with Dr. John Hess and Dr. Grant Bochicchio from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where testing of the products is taking place.

Nano-Velcro is capable of providing nearly immediate, lasting, and cost-effective hemorrhage control for wounds ranging from simple cuts to surgical incisions to battlefield injuries. It is a chitosan-based material that is able to adhere to tissue in a very effective manner. The chitosan is modified with nano-"hooks" that optimize blood coagulation and tissue adhesion. The "hooks" also allow for reversible, Velcro-like interaction between chitosan and blood and tissue, strong enough to control bleeding but gentle enough to be removed from the patient without creating further damage. The use of the nano-"hooks" has led Dowling to use the the moniker "Nano-Velcro" to describe the technology. A patent application is pending.

Nano-Velcro and the startup created around it, Remedium Technologies, have in the past two years received numerous prizes and awards, as well as mass media attention.